The projectile of this invention is of the type described in German published application No. DE-PS 1,194,292 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,792 (assigned to Aktiebolaget Bofors, Bofors, Sweden). Such projectile consists of a housing which is sealed at its front and which includes a projectile core, preferably of tungsten carbide, which is enclosed by the housing and which bears against a heavy metal core support mounted in the nose of the projectile. The front portion of the projectile core is a hemisphere which is slidably movably arranged in a substantially conical shaped recess of the heavy metal core support which is mounted in the nose of the projectile. The housing is provided on its periphery with fracture zones formed by one or more grooves which are disposed in transverse positions between the nose and the cylindrical core of the projectile. The configuration of the heavy metal core support which is mounted in the nose of the projectile, has a frusto-conical exterior periphery, which is defined by an acute angle of less than 35 degrees. It is asserted that this known armor-piercing penetrator projectile has an improved armor-piercing effect, in particular when impacting on an inclined armor plate target. It is further asserted that this projectile impacts the armor plate not only with the forward portion of the outer housing but also with the forward portion of the heavy metal core support. It is further asserted that the latter thereby receives a rotating moment about its center of gravity, which is propagated in the direction of the armor plate and which, due to the arrangement of the forward portion of the core, is transferred thereto. Upon impact therefore the forward portion of the core is to be rotated in the direction of the armor plate, so that thereby a shorter path of penetration through the armor plate results.
This known armor-piercing projectile has the following drawbacks:
Due to the construction of the jacket, the average density of the projectile which should be as high as possible, is substantially reduced; the tungsten carbide due to its brittleness does not attain an effective application against the more recently developed modern multi-plate targets which are being used with increased frequency; in view of the reduced length/diameter-relationship the specific surface load, which surface loading is quite significant, in connection with the penetration capacity can only be slightly improved.